This article was written as a satire.
There was money, there was power, and there was sex.
It was brilliant.
Last month, the nation learned that former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had not only cheated on his wife, but also fathered a child with a former member of his household staff.
His scandal did not stand alone.
The head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, also known as DSK, allegedly raped a hotel maid.
Then there was former Senator and almost-VP John Edwards … well, you get the picture.
Men have cheated since the birth of Homo sapiens. For centuries, anthropologists, philosophers, and biologists have pondered over the sexual proclivities of men. Suddenly, when the sex scandals of prominent men emerged, journalists finally cracked the code.
Eureka! It was all so simple. These bad boys had power. Mystery solved, headlines across the country splashed with the breakthrough, “powerful men behaving badly.”
Americans were enlightened. Only men in positions of power rape people, and men without such authority do not. The conventional wisdom was established and the thought-provoking discussions began. Time magazine addressed the root of the problem in big, bold letters across its cover: “Sex, Lies, Arrogance. What Makes Powerful Men Act Like Pigs.”
We can draw such a conclusion because what DSK and Schwarzenegger did was essentially the same. One man engaged in simple adultery while the other in alleged rape. As many news organizations briefly noted, there is one slight difference between the two: One scenario is worse than the other, according to the media anyway.
Men rape women for the very same reason they engage in extramarital affairs. I’m sure it is safe to assume that there are no psychological differences for the propensity to rape a woman versus have an affair. After all, that’s what the media has implied, so it has to be valid, right?
The scandals evoked a crusade of intellectualism and maturity. In the successfully broad packaging of different scandals, moral sensitivity proved to be unnecessary. Had we not packaged the scandals together so broadly, we would have risked showing our sensitive side- a side that understands the psychological dimensions behind rape.
Strauss-Kahn’s sex scandal was covered more than any other news story during the week of May 19-22, according to the Pew Research Center. More than 80 percent of people said they knew of Schwarzenegger’s affair and love child. During this same time period, less than a quarter of the public had heard of the debate in Washington over whether to raise the federal debt limit.
The American people should be proud.
In an inevitable byproduct of brilliance, journalists on both sides of the Atlantic are starting to question themselves and their country’s journalistic standards.
For those of you hinting at regret—knock it off. The French elites are finally showing weakness. Some are even questioning their “journalistic integrity” for turning a blind eye to political sexcapades.
The French press may shift their anti-sex scandal model toward The Enlightenment, Part Deux, but it will not be to the full-tilt degree currently exuberated in the States.
Sex scandals are the root of democracy, for without democracy, extra-marital power-sex cannot be scandalous. As journalists living in a free speech nation, it is our job to report on anything and everything. It is our duty.
In France, politicians get away with marital murder. For many years Francois Mitterrand, the president of France from 1981 to 1995, had a secret mistress with whom he fathered an illegitimate daughter. Although the scandal was similar to Schwarzenegger’s, the French press was mute; they insisted on covering important issues.
Sex and politics! A middle-aged French president caught with his pants down! Mitterand’s scandal was a journalist’s pure glory. How could the press not cover such a philandering affair? How did life in France go on?
The French’s criticism of the U.S.’ sexy journalism is propelled by jealousy. French journalism is consistent with analysis of speeches and coverage of political issues — this is beyond regrettable. With such coverage, how can the public be anything but malnourished? Where’s the fat?
The U.S. has glamor. The U.S. has in-your-face-mosquito-buzzing-in-your-ear-that-won’t-go-away sex scandals. Sex is politics’ oxygen. Without it, nothing really matters. Our headlines splashed in scandal and sensation provide Americans with the news they need to know. Without it, America’s renowned intellect shunts to ground.
Five years ago a book titled “Sexus Politicus” was published with an entire chapter detailing Strauss-Kahn’s voracious sexual appetite. The authors, Christophe Dubois and Christophe Deloire, observed Strauss-Kahn to have a tendency towards “seduction to the point of obsession.”
Had Strauss-Kahn been American, this story never would have gone untold. The deficit would have gone unreported. The drug war: Unreported. World suffrage: Whatevs. It can wait. For now, dinner talk’s heart belongs to someone else; it belongs to politicians and their wieners.
As it turns out, character really does trump substance and job performance. All Bill Clinton critics know that Universal Truth. If it weren’t for the U.S. press, Strauss-Kahn would most likely be France’s new president next year. Your welcome, France.
But American brilliance can’t stop here. On both sides of the Atlantic, journalists are deeply soul-searching. They question why the public reacted negatively to the LA Times rather than Schwarzenegger when the paper printed (immediately before his first election) the detailed accusations of more than 15 women who said Schwarzenegger had improperly touched and groped them. Disregarding his confession of guilt, loyalists swept Arnold into office, and the LA Times’ was additionally punished when 10,000 people voted against the Times by dropping their subscriptions. As a Hollywood celebrity, the Terminator’s sexscapades were ho-hum expected. People did not want to see good ink wasted on bad trivia. But as Govinator … oh-my-god-yes-oh-yes-bring-the-dirt.
Let’s stop this self-doubt and get back to the issues that matter. Packaging DSK’s and Arnold’s sexual misconduct is a good start; it enables the media to paint a broad story of sex and power. We don’t have to risk being labeled “morally insensitive” for not recognizing the irrelevant differences between adultery and rape. But even so, there are other issues to tackle.
It is time to ask even more compelling questions and give greater scrutiny to the issues that matter, such as DSK’s $3,000 a night suite at the Sofitel and his first class flight on Air France. Come on my fellow journalists, we’ve got a job to do.
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